Residents First: Effective, Efficient and Accessible Operations
Ramsey County will drive improvements in service delivery and facilities, with an emphasis on engaging residents and employees, process efficiency, innovative technology and accessibility.
Why this is a priority
Ramsey County is committed to be a resident-centered organization. We seek to exceed the expectations of the community by delivering effective and efficient services in accessible and welcoming facilities. Service delivery and facilities of the future will be streamlined and refined with input received directly from the resident and customer, informed by experience and expertise of empowered employees and enabled by innovative technology. Facilities will be redesigned to offer a better resident experience including co-locating to allow for more services at a single location.
Building on previous work and lessons learned
The Residents First program is built on the Modernization Program approach and the Accessible Service Delivery & Facilities Action Plan (PDF). The Residents First Program conducted enterprise-wide analysis of operations to find gaps and overlaps in how services are provided, worked directly with residents to include their input in recommended changes and engaged employees to improve the resident and employee experience. Key deliverables include:
- Comprehensive Residents First facilities plan endorsed by the Ramsey County Board.
- Service catalog detailing 194 needs-based services that the county provides its residents and accompanying resident facing services capability model that helps identify gaps in service delivery (people, process and technology).
- Launch of the St. Paul Opportunity Center to provide collocated, coordinated services to those experiencing homelessness.
- Modernization projects in Human Resources (HR), Information and Public Records (IPR) and Information Services (IS) to support Resident First operations (e.g. - unified customer service team in IPR, transformation of HR organizational structure to align with leadership and enhance employee experience, foundational technology investments to accelerate the efficient and effective delivery of Resident First services).
Ensure racial equity and shared power with community is applied
Operationalizing the advancement of racial equity and empowering community by engaging them at all levels of decision-making continues to be key to an outcome driven Residents First Program. Learnings from the county’s response to COVID-19 have underscored racial disparities and stressed the need for racial and ethnic communities to be engaged in decision-making that affects their wellbeing. Processes, practices, technology and facilities will continue to be improved and upgraded, and services redesigned to make them more effective, efficient and accessible. To ensure all residents have equitable and fair access to services, authentic community engagement and partnership efforts (from development to implementation to accountability) must intentionally include communities that are most in need and are disproportionately racial and ethnic communities.